Faculty members from a wide range of disciplines at U of T Scarborough
have recently received research grants totaling $3.2 million from the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC),
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC),
and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).

A total of 24 researchers on our campus received funds from SSHRC,
NSERC, and CFI in grant rounds announced this spring, with support for
research topics that run the gamut from urbanization in East Africa to
heat shock proteins in the nervous system. (Scroll down
for the complete list of recipients and research
projects.)

“The competition for federal research dollars is acute, and so
we’re delighted that our researchers and scholars have done so
well in the current context,” said Professor Malcolm
Campbell, vice-principal, research at the University of
Toronto Scarborough. “We’re excited to celebrate the
successes of all of our researchers. The wide range of subject areas
is a testament to the calibre of scholarship and research being
conducted here. The pace of discovery at UTSC continues to accelerate,
and I’ve been seeing first-hand the extraordinary research
momentum here, and the campus is home to a research enterprise of
exceptional breadth and depth.”

Campbell said the range of research taking place at UTSC demonstrates
its exceptional quality. In addition to the SSHRC and NSERC grants,
Campbell noted that four UTSC researchers received funds from other
special grant programs. A researcher at UTSC has been awarded a NSERC
Discovery Accelerator Supplement (DAS) grant, a special award given to
only 100 scientists across Canada each year. Professor Myrna
Simpson (physical and environmental sciences) received the
2010 DAS for her studies on organic matter in soil. The DAS grant
provides $120,000 over three years to accelerate progress and maximize
the impact of outstanding research programs, according to NSERC.

“I was pleasantly surprised, both to be nominated and to receive
this grant,” said Simpson, who noted that this type of financial
support is crucial to the pursuit of research. “NSERC funding is
key to my research programs and the funds allow me to pursue
fundamental scientific questions that wouldn’t be possible
otherwise.” She said the DAS funding will speed up her research
into the mechanisms of preservation and decomposition of soil organic
matter in varying environments. The money will also support two new
research collaborations for Simpson: one with scientists at
Agriculture Canada and the second with a research group at Colorado
State University. “Both projects have great potential to enhance
our scientific understanding of the dynamics of soil organic matter at
a fundamental level.”

Recipients of research infrastructure support from the recently
announced CFI Leaders Opportunity Fund competition of November 2009
are: Professors Maria Dittrich (physical and
environmental sciences) for her work on aquatic ecology and
biogeochemistry; David Nussbaum (psychology) for his
research in forensic psychology, human aggression and the brain; and
Kenneth Welch (biological sciences) for his work on
the physiology of hummingbirds. Together, these recipients received
$419,000.

In total, 24 researchers at UTSC received $3,258,985 this year, from
SSHRC, NSERC, and CFI. Here are lists of these recent grant recipients
and their research projects. Awardees are listed alphabetically.

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We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.